General Mills has maintained its progress in making its entire packaging portfolio recyclable or reusable at 93% in fiscal year 2024, the same rate reported the previous year. The company has set a target to achieve 100% recyclable or reusable packaging by 2030, as stated in its 2025 global responsibility report released recently.
Despite the commitment to reaching its goal, General Mills acknowledges the challenges involved in reducing greenhouse gas emissions impact while shifting to more recyclable packages. The company plans to collaborate with suppliers to mitigate this impact and optimize packaging designs accordingly.
Throughout the year, General Mills introduced various packaging innovations in different regions, such as eliminating plastic liners from certain frozen breakfast items and transitioning seasoning mixes to monomaterial packaging.
By the numbers
93%
Proportion of General Mills packaging that is recyclable or reusable (by weight, excluding some international markets).
13%
Percentage of General Mills’ packaging portfolio that is plastic, totaling 165 million pounds, with the majority being flexible plastic.
General Mills did not provide a response regarding the stagnation in recyclability.
The company’s packaging portfolio consists of various products like cereals, snack bars, yogurts, baking mixes, and frozen foods. Despite a slight increase in plastic packaging, fiber remains the primary component, accounting for 73% of the portfolio. The breakdown also includes 13% plastic, 7% steel, 4% glass, 2% composite cans, and 1% aluminum.
General Mills has been focusing on transitioning from multimaterial packaging to mono-PE within its flexible plastic packaging, converting 46 million pounds to date. The company aims to reduce the use of multimaterial packaging in favor of mono-PE.
Challenges persist in incorporating recycled content, particularly in direct food contact flexible packaging where a safe food-grade PCR alternative is not widely available. General Mills is working on enhancing data methods to better track recycled content and packaging reductions in the future.
Looking ahead, General Mills anticipates a reduced presence of flexible and rigid plastics in its packaging portfolio, attributed to the expected divestiture of its North American yogurt business in 2025.